Rights body takes action against public contractor

A CONTRACTOR working on a major State-funded construction project is to be prosecuted by the National Employment Rights Authority (Nera) in the coming months.

The prosecution will be the first taken by the body, which was established almost three years ago, against an employer working on a public contract.

The name of the firm and the job for which it was contracted cannot be revealed for legal reasons, but it is known the case is being taken in relation to the employment records kept for staff.

It is not known whether the firm in question was awarded the contract by the State or if it was a sub-contractor. It is understood that the case was investigated by Nera following a complaint by another firm.

Nera director Ger Deering said the organisation had seen a large increase this year in the number of employers coming forward to report other firms for not complying with employment laws.

Where during the boom years a legitimate firm might have considered those acting outside the law to be irritants, they now find them a serious threat to their businesses, Mr Deering said.

“If a contractor comes in and illegally cuts the rates they can actually undercut a legitimate contractor by millions because the labour cost of a major project is the biggest cost. What you end up with then is a legitimate contractor with no work and their employees with no work,” he said.

Problems with employment records, where a company keeps incomplete or inaccurate records for its employees or fails to produce any records at all, accounted for a large number of actions taken by Nera, Mr Deering said.

“Records are key because if for example an employer doesn’t record the rate per hour somebody is getting, if they don’t record the number of hours someone works, we don’t know whether or not they are compliant.”

The majority of employers are anxious to be compliant, Mr Deering said, and rectify the breaches before prosecution. However, the low level of current fines, at a maximum of just €1,900, has meant that some employers are ignoring their obligations.

“There is a sinister side where people do realise that the fine for not keeping records is quite low. They may take the risk and say ‘I’ll take my chances. I won’t have any records, therefore Nera . . . can’t prove I owe any money to staff’.”